The present disclosure relates to an electrostatic latent image developing toner.
A toner that has favorable fixability even when heating thereof by a fixing roller is kept at a minimal level is preferable in terms of energy efficiency and device miniaturization. A toner having excellent low-temperature fixability is typically prepared using a binder resin having a low melting point or glass transition point, or using a releasing agent having a low melting point. However, a toner such as described above tends to suffer from a problem of the toner particles included therein aggregating when the toner is stored at high temperatures. In a situation in which toner particles aggregate, the aggregated toner particles tend to have a lower charge than other toner particles that are not aggregated.
In consideration of the above, a toner including toner particles having a core-shell structure may be used in order to achieve an objective of obtaining a toner with excellent low-temperature fixability, improving toner high-temperature preservability, or improving toner blocking resistance. In the aforementioned core-shell structure, toner cores containing a low melting point binder resin are each coated by a shell layer formed from a resin that has a higher glass transition point than a glass transition point (Tgc) of the binder resin contained in the toner cores.
In one proposed example of a toner including toner particles having a core-shell structure such as described above, the surfaces of toner cores having a softening temperature of at least 40° C. and no greater than 150° C. are coated by thin films containing a thermosetting component.